Take Me For Who I Really Am
by mayyouwalkonwarmsands
Summary: After being tossed through his own gate to the underworld by the valiant night guard, Larry Daley, Kahmunrah's soul has finally passed on to the hall of judgement. Standing before Osiris, his heart about to be weighed, he must confess to all that he has done wrong. Does his story reveal that he is truly evil's physical manifestation?...or is he more than what history has pegged him


_**So, besides the fact that he was evil, despised his brother, and potentially committed fratricide, I feel like not enough was explained about why Kahmunrah was the way he was. Anyway, since the real world wouldn't give me valid answers, I wrote this little gem to try and answer my own questions. I hope you all enjoy.**_

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Darkness. That was all that surrounded me. I couldn't see my hands in front of my face, yet I knew they were there. Just like I knew that my feet continued to march forward, even though I wasn't telling them to. In fact, all I wanted was to stop and rest. I was exhausted and confused but I couldn't stop. My feet kept marching forward and my mind kept wandering.

What had happened? How did I get here? Where am I going? Those were the questions running through my mind as I continued to march forward. It wasn't until what felt like an eternity later that I came to a glimmer of light off in the distance. That's when I broke into an outright sprint. I might not be able to stop, but I could definitely demand that my body move forward faster.

Winded, I finally burst through two heavy doors made of some kind of stone I had never seen before. Every inch of them were engraved with the most polished and precise hieroglyphics. Huge gem stones made up the eyes of the gods depicted, and as the light caught them, it made their gaze appear as if they were glaring at you with the most intense fiery gaze. It was so beautiful and so haunting...

The rest of the room, if there was a room, was not visible. All that could be seen was the huge halo of light in which I stood in the center of, that shone down from somewhere high above. Everything past the rim of the halo was unknown. The floor, or what I could see of it, was ice cold, black,jagged and slick. It was the kind of floor that would destroy a person's body if they tried to walk too quickly and slipped. When I looked up from my unprotected sandled feet and looked out into the abyss, I found forty one pairs of red eyes glaring at me from the darkness, and I realized that the ground was the way it was for a reason.

I heard footsteps echo through though the room as a tall man with greenish-blue skin, a long braided beard and a gigantic white crown sporting two gigantic ostrich feathers step into view. His long white linen tunic and thick gold collar flaunted the idea that he was a powerful ruler. His attitude did as well. He looked down his long nose at me, like I was an insect on the bottom of his shoe. I shuddered at the sight of the disgust in his eyes.

My stomach dropped and my heart picked up pace as recognition dawned upon me. I instinctively dropped to one knee and bowed my head low, the sign of an obedient servant. He was Osiris, the god of the dead. The other forty pairs of eyes belonged to the other forty judges of the underworld, which meant that this...was the hall of judgment.

"Kahmunrah." Osiris called out in an ancient, raspy and authoritative voice, "Do you know where you are? Do you know why you are here?"

"Yes..." I replied in almost a whisper, "This is the hall of judgment. I have passed on."

"Good." He sniffed, "Now rise to your feet and face your jury. You have a long list of offenses against you, and only one chance to explain yourself. Now is the time."

I scrambled to my feet, slipping a little and slicing my hand on the jagged floor. I looked out into the darkness at the other pairs of eyes, knowing that no matter what happened there was no possible way that this could end well for me. I tried to bring myself to my full height, but without my throne and with the knowledge of what I had done, I couldn't do it.

Osiris pulled a scroll of papyrus out of his cloak and began to unroll it. It was small; there didn't appear to be much writing on it, but Osiris's eyes filled with even more disgust as he began to read it.

"It appears," He spat, "That your list of crimes is so numerous that the others have chosen to condense it into a list of categories rather than actual, individual crimes."

My heart sank at his words. This was it, there was no way I was going to be able to talk my way out of this one.

Osiris raised an eyebrow as he read on, "Except, one crime seems to be so heinous that it fell into a category in and of it's self..." His eyes flashed and he glared down at me, "It says here that you murdered your brother, Ahkmenrah. Care to explain?"

This wasn't good. Osiris was known for being the most merciful of all the judges, yet he had been murdered by his own brother (Set) himself. I knew no matter what I told him whether it was fact or fiction, my answer wouldn't be good enough. There was no excuse I could make, yet I knew I had to say something.

"Yes," I began in a raspy cracking voice, "I murdered him. I was an only child before he came along. I had everything to myself and life was perfect. I was the center of attention, oh how I did love the attention. I had been told since birth that I was to rule one day, but when he came along...that ruined everything. He stole my parent's attention away from me and all the kingdom could talk about was the new prince. I was jealous and as I got older that jealousy ate away at me. I turned cruel toward him for no reason and in the end that was what made mother and father pass the throne onto him instead of myself. They had this notion that cruelty toward my own brother could easily turn to cruelty toward my people."

"You killed your brother out of jealousy? You took the life of another of our creations, your own flesh and blood, because you wanted attention and power?" Osiris growled.

I shook my head vehemently. I knew how it sounded, but this was the end. I didn't have to pretend anymore. Somebody ought to hear the truth, even if they didn't believe it...

"No." I stated firmly, meeting his eyes for a moment before flicking my gaze back to the floor, "I killed him because of her...his wife. She had plans for him. She made him fall in love with her so that mother and father would betroth him to her and she could be queen. She knew that they didn't trust me and that he would take over as ruler. I saw right through it, but mother and father never did. And my brother...bless his innocent little heart." I laughed bitterly, "He always saw the good in people, even me. He believed her too, and he fell madly in love with her. However, once they were married...she had plans to kill him. She wanted him out of the way so that she could rule. She knew that no matter what, my parents would stop me from taking over. The night I killed him, it was originally her who planned to end him. The hands that pushed him down the steps, they were her's. She thought that she ended him, made it look like an accident, but she was foolish. He was still alive. The Khopesh that slit his throat...that was mine. I killed him because his injuries were so bad that they would never heal properly, and because I knew that if he survived he would find out who had attempted to end him, and to find out it was her...would destroy him. I couldn't let him suffer like that, sweet, innocent, happy-go-lucky Ahkmenrah...so I put him out of his misery." A tear escaped the corner of my eye, "I might have been jealous of my brother, but I loved him all the same...and that...that is why I killed him...and why I killed her too."

There was a pause as the great god of the dead processed the information. One thing still didn't sit right with him.

"If you killed your brother to protect him, why did you take the throne? Why were you cruel to your people?"

More tears rolled down my face, "I...I...I took the throne because it was what was expected. To hide the truth I had to play into the lie. I didn't want history to remember my brother as the man who was murdered by his wife. I wanted his story to be one of a happy marriage and a happy kingdom. As for being cruel to my people...I just...lost it. I was so angry and disgusted at myself that I took it out on the people I cared about most. I had a short temper and I was irrational. I wasn't in the right state of mind to be king...and that's how I ended up here. I remember now...after ten years of hell I finally woke up and realized the monster I had become and well...I chose...I chose to end it, for the sake of Egypt." My voice cracked with the name of my home land and I fell to my knees. Tears streamed down my face as I realized that whatever the gods had coming for me I deserved. I was a monster and that was all I had ever been.

Osiris's face softened as he rolled up his scroll and placed it back in his robes, "I see now. Why you did what you did, but it still wasn't justifiable." His voice was hardly a whisper, "The judges have voted. Crimes are crimes no matter how riotous their reason. You are guilty Kahmunrah."

I nodded and stifled the scream of rage, terror and despair that had built up inside me.

"Before you punish me," I sobbed, "Please answer me this, oh great one." I looked him directly in the eyes, "My brother...did he...did he make it?"

Osiris smiled a sad, sad smile, "I am sorry Kahmunrah, but I'm afraid he did not. There is some kind of magic that keeps his soul trapped somewhere between the afterlife and the living world. The same goes for your parents. However, they are happy as they are, and please know that your brother loved you even at the end...and that he never held anything against you."


End file.
